President Trump's directive is the third time in less than three decades that a president has formally called for a human return to the moon. The two Presidents Bush made similar declarations, 14 and a half years apart, only to see them falter, one undone when it was saddled with a $500 billion price tag and the other failing to survive a change in administrations.

Finding another James Webb to run NASA was no easy task. President Trump considered several excellent candidates, some of whom we personally admire, but in the spirit of Webb’s leadership, U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine is the president’s nominee for NASA administrator.

The Trump administration has identified representatives of the various government agencies who will serve on the National Space Council, which is likely to hold its first meeting “very, very shortly,” Greg Autry, the administration’s former NASA liaison, said Aug. 30.

In a conversation with NASA astronauts on the ISS April 24, President Donald Trump called for a human mission to Mars by the end of his second term in 2024, a timeframe most in the industry do not consider feasible.

The White House announced April 14 that President Donald Trump had nominated to the board of the Export-Import Bank two former members of Congress, one of them a staunch critic of the bank’s lending practices.